It’s hyped as the best weekend of football–the Divisional Round, the Elite Eight of the NFL, back-to-back doubleheaders that I’ll go out on a limb and predict set new ratings records in the process (thank you, Big Data Plus Panel). And that’s because it all delivered on said hype and then some.
A weekend bookended by overtime thrillers that reinforced the pain that long-suffering fan bases continue to endure, especially in frigid climates that now have little to look forward to for months besides shoveling snow and lamenting what might have been. And in the case of the Denver Broncos, even as winners they can identify with the Bills Mafia they eliminated. As YAHOO! Sports’ Frank Schwab lamented:
The Denver Broncos have their flaws. But they know how to win close games, so Josh Allen’s first Super Bowl trip will have to wait. The Broncos shook off giving up a game-tying drive to Allen in the final minute of regulation, which came after Denver had taken a lead with 55 seconds left. In overtime, Denver forced Allen’s fourth turnover of the game on an interception, and two big pass interference calls on the Bills put Denver in position to get a game-winning field goal for a dramatic 33-30 win.
The Broncos are going back to the AFC championship for the first time since Peyton Manning was their quarterback, and they went on to win Super Bowl 50. However, they’ll play that conference title game without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury near the end of overtime. Head coach Sean Payton announced the stunning news at the postgame news conference.
At least they’re playing on. More than can be said for the miraculous Chicago Bears, who delivered their long-suffering fan base a miracle and a gut punch in the matter of minutes last night in snowy Soldier Field. RAMS WIRE’s Cameron DaSilva pretended to be understanding:
The Rams and Bears went back and forth in the first half, with the biggest lead being seven points after Los Angeles’ opening touchdown. It was tied at 10 going into halftime and coming out of the break, both offenses were stagnant. Finally, the Rams broke through with their first scoring drive since the end of the second quarter, going 91 yards in 14 plays to take their first lead since 7-0. Kyren Williams waltzed into the end zone with 8:55 left in the game, putting the Rams up 17-10.
The Bears got one more chance after stopping the Rams on third down and forcing a punt, getting the ball back with just under 2 minutes left. And that’s when the latest Bears miracle happened. On fourth-and-4, Caleb Williams retreated and chucked it deep to Cole Kmet, who caught it in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown with Cobie Durant in coverage.
(In overtime), the Bears moved the ball well on their possession and even got into Rams territory across midfield, but Kam Curl had other plans. On Williams’ deep pass, Curl jumped in front of it for the interception, a game-changing play by the Rams safety. Matthew Stafford, with a chance to send his team to the NFC Championship Game, delivered with another game-winning drive, capped off by Harrison Mevis’ 42-yard field goal to win it…Final score: Rams 20, Bears 17
The finality of that result will sting in Chitown until the June thaw–perhaps later. But, again, Rams fans can’t exactly do that much of a whoop-whoop, knowing the juggernaut that lies ahead of them on Sunday night in the Pacific Northwest. After a gutting last-day elimination from the playoffs last year, the echoes of the Legion of Boom were awoken in downtown Seattle in perhaps the weekend’s biggest beatdown–at least in the view of the SEATTLE TIMES’ Nicole Pasia:
It only took about 13 seconds for Seahawks fans to rock the rafters of Lumen Field on Saturday night.
Over a decade since the “Beast Quake” that cemented Seattle’s reputation for loud crowds, fans at the divisional playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers let out a deafening roar during what some are calling the “Speed Quake,” as Rashid Shaheed returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. The crowd noise stunned Tom Brady, who said he “certainly felt a rumble” in the stadium. “I was not here for the ‘Beast Quake,’ but I can’t imagine it being much louder than what I just saw,” he said on the Fox broadcast of the game, which the Seahawks turned into a 41-6 rout of the 49ers.
We do, in fact, know how that rumble measures up to the “Beast Quake” — and Seattle’s other notable crowd-induced rumbles — thanks to the work of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, based at the University of Washington’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences. “We’ve done a quick comparison using one station that’s in common outside the stadium to the ‘Beast Quake,’ ” said Harold Tobin, PNSN director. “It’s a similar level of magnitude of shaking.”
It was no doubt a gutteral reaction to a return to glory–one matched perhaps not on the Richter scale but on the spectrum of genuine surprise in snowy Foxboro, as the ATHLETIC’s exceptionally busy Daniel Shirley reported:
New England forced five Houston turnovers to pull out a 28-16 win tonight in the AFC divisional round of the NFL playoffs. The Patriots move on to the AFC Championship Game and will play next Sunday in Denver.
New England’s defense forced four C.J. Stroud interceptions in the first half, and Marcus Jones returned one for a touchdown. The Texans also lost a fumble. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye threw for three touchdowns and passed for 179 yards as New England overcame its three turnovers.
From a 4-13 embarrassment that resulted in the removal of the rookie coach who succeeded the legacy of Bill Belicheck (Jerod Mayo, for the record), the turnaround that the homecoming Mike Vrabel oversaw is downright inspiring. And now needing to conquer only Jarrett Stidham to return to the Super Bowl.
That should provide some comfort for the fans of this weekend’s losers–and perhaps even more for the likes of Giants and Falcons fans who are coming off moribund years and now beginning to rebuild with second-act coaches just like Vrabel. The fan bases of the six other NFL franchises still seeking coaches can also put this one up on their virtual bulletin boards.
The best part? We get another doubleheader this coming Sunday that will determine who will move on. My hunch is that more seismic reactions will be occurring–one way or the other.
Courage…